Sectarianism and Soteriology 395 have not undertaken the covenant” (18). Here again the biblical material is modified for sectarian reasons: the replacement of Israel’s “enemies” by the Israelites who had not joined the Dead Sea sect, together with the priestly blessing of only the members of the sect, conclusively settles the contrasting fates of the two groups. The near-usurpation of divine agency in “putting” (ˆtn) the curse on its enemies also sheds light on the group’s self- understanding. III. The Sectarian Function of Blessing and Cursing at Qumran Given such a robust sectarian mindset, it is hardly surprising that the Dead Sea sect (in its mature stages as represented in part by 1QS) apparently made no effort to add outsiders to its ranks. 4QMMT, perhaps the only Qumran document whose intended audience lay outside its compound, is quite irenic in tone and generously seeks to bring the non-Qumranite reader (including an “Israel” outside the sect) to a correct understanding and practice of the law (larcylw ˚l bwfl, “for your good and for that of Israel”, 4QMMT C 31-32; cf. C 78-79) (19). But 4QMMT comes from the very beginning of the sect’s existence, and 1QS, coming roughly a century later, prohibits all disputes regarding halakhah (the very genre of 4QMMT). Instead it inculcates hatred against all those outside the community: all members are to “detest all the sons of darkness” (with anc, 1QS 1,10), and the Instructor is to have “everlasting hatred for the men of the pit in clandestine spirit” (with tanc, 1QS 9,21–22) (20). Whatever openness toward dialogue with those outside the Qumran sect may have existed early in its history soon disappeared and was replaced by practices which consigned those outside it to their fate. The sectarian spectrum described by the Qumranite group thus seems to have begun with irenic disagreements over halakhah, progressed to a stage in which these disagreements became sharp enough to create dissension, and matured into an exclusivism which denied salvation (with special emphasis on election, its sine qua non) to all those outside the group. IV. Conclusions While cursing is not an exhaustive description of the later Qumranite perspective toward outsiders, the preeminence of 1QS and the importance of its covenant ceremony in constructing the group’s identity and ideology demand that its condemnatory stance toward outsiders be reckoned with. The use of Num 6,24-26 as a curse in that ceremony is a valuable avenue toward (18) As suggested by FALK, Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers, 223. (19) See further L.L. GRABBE, “4QMMT and Second Temple Jewish Society”, Legal Texts (eds. BERNSTEIN – GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ – KAMPEN) 89-108. (20) H.W.M. RIETZ – E. QIMRON – J. CHARLESWORTH, “Some Works of the Torah”, Damascus Document II, Some Works of the Torah, and Related Documents (ed. J.H. CHARLESWORTH) (Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project 3; Tübingen – Louisville, KY 2006) date 4QMMT to the middle of the second century B.C.E.